Finished aligning the refined Mundane Letters in their respective chambers, Vor Eyes step aside so that Dam Son could admire their beauty. “So, what do you think about the refinement procedure, wasn’t it fun?”

“Indeed it was. Watching you go to work like that was even better to look at. I can’t imagine how long it must have taken you to get so good at refining Mundane Cores.”

Vor Eyes blushed, “It didn’t take me that long to learn. How about you Dam Son, want to try? I have more Mundane Cores chilling in the refrigerator.”

Dam Son pondered Vor Eyes' offer for a while before he answered, “You bet I would. I came here with that reason in mind after all.”

“Okay!” Vor Eyes became excited to instruct his new friend. “I’m going to go grab another one from the refrigerator. You can get settled around the desk until I get back.”

“Alright.” Dam Son motioned closer towards the workbench. As he was about to sit down, his sapphire suitcase became all tingly. “Suit, what’s the matter?” It responded by zipping up and down. “What are you saying, you want to try?” Dam Son understood clearly what his sapphire suitcase was trying to convey. “Okay, if you think you can do it then I’ll do as you suggest.”

Vor Eyes returned shortly with a fresh Mundane Core in his hand. “Here it is. Do you want to hold it for a bit before I set it down into the Arcane Bath?”

“Sure.” Dam Son accepted the Mundane Core from Vor Eyes’ grasp; admiring it very closely.

“It’s beautiful right?”

“Yes, it is. I think I’m ready to begin the refining process.”

“Great, then follow me towards the Arcane Bath. I’ll show you how to place it inside the chamber.”

“I don’t think that will be necessary, Vor Eyes.”

“What do you mean?”

“I might have another way to do it.”

“To do what? Are you suggesting that you know of another method to refine Mundane Cores besides the one I’ve just shown you?”

“I think I might.”

“You don’t sound so sure of yourself. What do you have in mind?” Vor Eyes was genuinely curious about Dam Son’s other method.

Pushing his sapphire suitcase ahead of him, Dam Son said, “This is what I have in mind.”

“What?” Vor Eyes was at a loss. “Are you talking about that suitcase?”

“I am.”

“What will you do with it?”

“I’m going to feed this Mundane Core to it.”

“That’s insane! Where did you come up with such a ludicrous idea?” Vor Eyes was astonished by Dam Son’s laidback stupidity. “This is the first time ever I’ve heard someone suggesting to feed a Mundane Core to their hand luggage. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to acquire a Mundane Core? You better not think of ruining that one. Give it to me?” Vor Eyes reached for the Mundane Core but Dam Son gave him the slip.

“No. I know it might sound ridiculous to you but this suitcase isn’t an ordinary item. It is very precious to my existence which is why I never go anywhere without it.”

“What are you talking about Dam Son?” Vor Eyes was confused.

“Just let me try this. If it fails then I’ll cough up a suitable compensation. What do you say?” Dam Son waited for Vor Eyes’ answer. He didn’t give a verbal one but a gesture of approval. “Alright, thanks for agreeing with this. I’m going to do it now.”

“How could I’ve agreed with such a ridiculous idea? I must be losing my mind as well.” Vor Eyes watched as Dam Son placed the sapphire suitcase on a vacant counter, pulled the zip until it opened then hurriedly tossed the Mundane Core inside and quickly closed it back.

“Hey, be careful.” Vor Eyes was upset by how roughly Dam Son handled the Mundane Core; he didn’t even get to see the interior of the suitcase because of how swiftly Dam Son acted. Moments later, both of them witnessed something amazing.

The sapphire suitcase began vibrating sporadically on the counter. It continued this gyration for 10 seconds until the zips which kept it close started coming asunder. Hot steam came rushing outside followed by the regurgitation of refined Mundane Letters of never before seen quality.

“How can this be possible?” Vor Eyes was astounded by what he had just witnessed. He had to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating, so he pinched his cheek a few times. “Yes, I’m not dreaming.” To further ascertain his claim, Vor Eyes gathered a few Mundane Letters that spat out of Dam Son’s suitcase and inspected them via microscopic analysis.

“This is unreal!” Vor Eyes appeared to be stunned out of his mind.

Dam Son glanced over his shoulder and asked, “What is unreal.”

“Don’t you see this?” Vor Eyes gestured to the Mundane Letters. “Look at this mixture of colours. These characters have been refined to 90% purity!”

“Is that a good thing?”

“If it is a good thing?” Vor Eyes couldn’t believe what he had just been asked, thus he elaborated, “Dam Son, in the entirety of Vocabular, only a handful of Wordsmith scholars have been able to refine Mundane Cores above the 80% bottleneck. Most of the Powered Letters that we used in our everyday lives are mostly derived from the 40-60% average purity of Mundane Letters. And these Mundane Letters that I’m looking at right now possess a purity of 90%. Hell yeah, this is a good thing!” Vor Eyes became so excited that he jumped up and down until his glasses fell from his face.

“Hey, be careful not to hurt yourself.” Dam Son retrieved the fallen glasses from the floor then gave them to the owner.

“Thank you.” After realigning his glasses on his face, Vor Eyes became more intrigued by Dam Son’s suitcase. He went over to the counter to touch it but Dam Son prevented him from interacting with it.

“This is not a toy. Only I am allowed to caress it.”

“But this luggage might revolutionize the Wordsmith Industry. Can’t I get a hold of it?”

“I said no touching.”

Perceiving Dam Son’s serious demeanour, Vor Eyes refrained from trying to interact with the sapphire suitcase. “Okay, I won’t touch. How about this, can you try to refine another Mundane Core with it? Please! Please! Please! I’m begging desperately right here. Do you want me to go on my knees?”

“That won’t be necessary. Suit is also interested in tasting another one of your Mundane Cores.”

“Suit, is that what you call it? That’s a dull name. Never mind, I’ll go get a few Mundane Cores right away.” Vor Eyes dashed off in the direction of the refrigerator with enthusiasm beaming from his outer appearance. Very quickly he returned with a small container hosting 3 Mundane Cores.

Dam Son asked, “Why did you bring so many?”

“Just a little experiment. I want to see if the first time was a fluke. Are you ready?”

“Of course.” Dam Son commenced unzipping his sapphire suitcase. “How many at a time?”

“Do it in a singular. This way I can be sure.”

“Alright, let me have it.” Dam Son tossed another Mundane Core into Suit’s belly. Just as before, it vibrated for a short while then released hot steam along with the refined Mundane Letters. Vor Eyes made sure to arrange them in proper order.

When Suit was finished refining all 3 Mundane Cores, Vor Eyes brought the refined Mundane Letters under a fast scanning contraption that analysed each letter’s purity.  “Unbelievable…” Vor Eyes spoke with his mouth agape. “Come and take a look at this Dam Son. You see here? I’ve arranged the Mundane Letters in the order they were processed. The first batch has 90% purity, the second batch has 89% purity, the third batch has 92% purity and the last batch has 93% purity.”

Dam Son surmised, “The purity percentage fluctuated.”

“Not only fluctuated, but it maintains consistency within the 90^th range and I think that Suit is learning from its past experience. Look at the last batch, they possess a purity rate of 93%. That is a 4 value increase from the second batch. At first, I thought that your idea was ludicrous but now I’m regretting not suggesting the darn thing myself. Do you have any idea the price range of these pure Mundane Letters?”

“I can’t say that I do.”

“Me neither, but I reckon that the revenue stream would be huge!” At that moment, an idea came to Vor Eyes’ mind. “What do you say about going into business with me Dam Son? With your Suit and my genius knowledge, we could dominate the Wordsmith society of Vocabular!”

Dam Son wasn’t that interested in Vor Eyes’s proposal. After retrieving his sapphire suitcase from the counter, he said his goodbyes. “I have somewhere to be right now. I’ll see you around later.”

Vor Eyes stopped him on his way out, “Wait a moment Dam Son. What about these Mundane Letters?”

“What about them?”

“Well, since your luggage refined them I was considering gifting you half of the spoils.”

“There is no need. I don’t have much use for them right now.” The reason Dam Son said this was due to the seal Jin Hennessy placed on him. For now, he could not assimilate with any Powered Scripts. “You keep them. If we’re still friends by the time I’m ready for them, then I’m hoping that you will supply me with some Powered Letters. How’s that?”

“Fantastic!” Vor Eyes was extremely happy by Dam Son’s suggestion. “I’ll get straight to the conversion process. Do you need me to show you the way out?”

“No, I got it.”

“Alright, you can stop by anytime you want, and remember that you have my contact info!”